Britain & France ‘chip & PIN’ cards

My wife and I in April ’06 took a most enjoyable holiday touring Britain with Midway Motor Travel (Southerwicks, Corsham, Wiltshire, England, SN13 9NH; phone 800/214-8738 or e-mail admin@midwaymotortravel. com), and I would like to endorse the many excellent references made over the years by ITN readers about this excellent company. I would, however, like to bring to your attention details of a serious problem visitors to Britain now encounter when trying to use credit or debit cards.

I was told that my MasterCard would be widely accepted in Britain, and so it is for British cardholders, but for visitors from outside the U.K. it is a different story.

Doubtless you know that Britain and France are piloting a new card scheme, using a different type of credit/debit card which they call a “chip & PIN” card (May ’06, pg. 20). This has eliminated the need for a transaction signature, and it is claimed that the new system has reduced card fraud considerably.

One would assume that cardholders from countries that do not have the new “chip & PIN” cards would not have any difficulty using their normal cards in Britain, but this is definitely not the case.

On two occasions when I attempted to pay, my credit card was refused point blank because it was not a “chip & PIN” card, and it was only by good fortune that I had an alternative method of payment with me. On a couple of other occasions the merchant kindly agreed to slide my card and accept it at his own risk.

Inquiries reveal that it is now up to the individual merchants as to whether or not they accept the normal credit cards (used by the majority of the world’s population) where a signature is required, because the card clearance center will guarantee merchants payment only for transactions that use the new “chip & PIN” cards.

Understandably, many merchants are reluctant or refuse to take cards for payment (especially from overseas visitors) when reimbursement is not guaranteed to them, but this is of no help to the visitor who has no knowledge of the new system and thinks he or she can pay with what is a perfectly valid card.

V. WENDELL DRIGGERS
Reston, VA